Colors Of Desire
by badriddance
Summary: A portal to a place of chaotic power has opened up. Raven is drawn to it, Slade wants it, Robin wants Slade, and everybody else gets to dress up. Despite the title, there is only hintedat romance here... RobinStarfire,RavenBB
1. Default Chapter

This all began with some sketches I did of the TT charactors all dressed up. I decided that I couldn't get away with dressing them like that for no reason, and so this fic was written to justify a few idle doodles.

CHAPTER 1

The power had gone off at 3:00 am and the break in had occurred sometime after that. BAX-TECH called in the Teen Titans soon after the sun rose. A thin, sad-eyed young man named Cenbach met them. They were ushered in past several security points to a room full of cots. Nine people lay in them, i.v.s and sensors covering their bodies.

"What's all this?" asked Robin. Cenbach motioned them over to a screen. As the group gathered around, they saw something that sent Beast Boy reeling back and made Robin's hands clench into fists. The screen showed a magnified view of a blood stream, and clinging to every cell was a small metal device with an S insignia on it.

"They're all probed!" wailed Beast Boy.

"Er..yes..." said Cenbach. "And they only activate when any of the victims try to talk about wha happened!"

"Well, we know WHO did this then..." growls Robin. "But what was taken?"

"A book and the computer it was translated on," said Cenbach. They all stared at him for a moment.

"You mean to tell me that in a hi-tech computer lab full of vaccines and genetic thingies and who knows what else, all that Slade took was a book?" Beast Boy asked, incredulous.

"What KIND of book?" asked Raven. Unnerved by her stare, Cenbach fiddled with his glasses.

"Ever hear of the Triad Expedition?" he asked. When none of them answered, he went on. "A whole department here is affiliated with the Gotham Museum of Antiquities. They send us stuff they find and we carbon date it and restore it as best we can. Stuff like that.

Well, there was a team of divers looking for a plane that had gone down in the Bermuda Triangle back in the 50s. They found it and there was this box in the cargo hold that was  
addressed to the Museum, so they sent it to us. We got it open and inside was this perfectly preserved book!

It was like the sea water never touched it! There was some other stuff too, a knife, a smaller box that had a necklace in it, but it was nowhere near the same condition."

"What was so special about that book?"

"The book was full of information on how to get to another dimension. It was all about tracking ley lines to points on the earth where the barrier between HERE and THERE was thin. It said that whatever dimension was at that point would influence the part of the earth it corresponded too."

"Sounds like bad science fiction to me," sniffed Beast Boy, crossing his arms over his scrawny chest.

"Oh," said Cenbach, finally getting annoyed. "You mean like green skinned shapechangers, or human/machine hybrids, or alien women in mini-skirts?" Beast Boy shut up.

"Anyway, we didn't know about all this stuff until we got the book translated. My friend, Harry Lee was the first to open the book. He was working late restoring the knife and since he was the only one in this wing, he decided to start on the book. He says that when he opened it, a thing manifested out of it, and attacked him."

"What sort of thing?"

"He said it was like a huge caterpillar, but with a face more like a lion...and lots of claws. He said it attacked him and screamed, and then was gone. We all laughed it off and figured that he had some sort of caffeine delusion, but he was different after that night. He was obsessed with the book. He wouldn't even stop to go to the bathroom.

He translated that thing day and night. He was just rabid and he freaked out completely when anyone tried to get him to stop. Finally, he was fired and even then security had to drag him out and lock the doors.

"Poor Harry...He just lost it. We never saw him again. That was two months ago. They still joke down in the stacks about his 'Bookworm' monster. It's the lab boogie man now. He was the first suspect when the book was found gone, but he was just a lab tech. There's no way he could've built androids to ransack the place or these...probe thingies in two months!"

"I believe you," Robin narrowed his eyes (or at least his mask) at the blood cells on the monitor.

"What's in this dimension that everyone wants so bad?" Cyborg asked. Cenbach looked a little sheepish.

"The book described it as a place of power and luck," he said. "I've always held that luck was just an unexpected event in your favor, but the book described it as a physical force, like a tornado or a wild animal, that roams free there."

"Do you believe it?" Raven asked.

"I believe Harry did," Cenbach sighed and pulled a picture from his wallet to show them. It showed him and a taller kid with short spiky black hair in graduation uniforms. "We were friends before the book got hold of him.Can you help?"

"We're on it!" Robin assured him and they left again.

"A place of power and luck," Robin mused aloud back at the Tower. "Sounds just like Slade's kind of place."

"But how could he have known about it?" asked Cyborg. "You saw that place. It's a bunch of lab boys cleaning up artifacts. Why would he have cared? And the only other person who knew was Harry Lee." Starfire suddenly gasped, making them all jump.

"Perhaps Harry Lee IS Slade!" she crowed.

"No way," Robin slumped to the couch. "Cenbach said Harry was rabid and freaking out. Slade is anything but hysterical. He doesn't freak out."

"But he does have his ways of finding things out," Raven said. "Who knows where he gets his information? The point is that he DOES get it. All that is clear right now is that we need information of our own to figure this out."

"YOU travel in other dimensions right?" Beast Boy looked at her. "Can't you find one of those ley line thingies and follow it?"

"..." Raven looked at him as if deciding if he was serious. "It won't be that easy." Starfire pounced on the idea, springing to her feet.

"You will need quiet and deep meditation for such a task!" she said. "Let us prepare at once!"

And so it came to pass. A meditation spot was set up for Raven. Cyborg found a globe and some thin wires. He had gotten the idea for Raven to shape the wires over the globe in the paths of the ley lines if she found them. She prepared herself, and eyed her friends carefully.

"This will take very deep, very UNINTERRUPTED concentration," she told them. "Where's Beast Boy?"

"It's taken care of," Cyborg said with a grin. In his own room, Beast Boy lay, bound hand and foot with a roll of duct tape wrapped around his mouth. His feet were incased in a block of cement and a large hypno-disk had been set up in front of him. He lay there watching it with spinning eyes.

Raven focused herself and sent her consciousness out. The others had left her alone, but occasionally crept in to check on her. The sun set and night fell and still she sat motionless. The sun came up again. Robin and Cyborg went to release Beast Boy before he drowned in his own drool. Starfire still sat with Raven, watching her friend intently for any sign of progress or trouble.

Beast Boy had been warned and threatened with more hypnotizing to stay out, but he couldn't resist. He took the form of a tarantula and crept up to Starfire. Cyborg caught him before she noticed and shook a warning finger at him. Beast Boy changed back, ready to argue that he hadn't made a sound, but then Raven gasped.

Her arms shot out in front of her and then hung there like they were on marionette strings. Orbs of blackness appeared around her hands and flowed out over the globe. The globe floated up into the air. The wires began to glow and bend around the globe. She seemed to struggle with it suddenly, and the other Titans stepped nearer, worried.

"I see them," Raven whispered. "How could I have missed them before?" Wires knotted where they met and one glowed brighter than the others, burning into the globe. "I can see it!" she went on. Things begin to fly around the room. "There's so much! I..." Her face contorted for a moment, her body arching.

"Raven...?" Beast Boy said. Robin and Starfire clamped their hands over his mouth.

"I can see it!" Raven screamed suddenly. "It can see ME......!!" She cried out in pain, clutching at her head. The globe suddenly fell and Cyborg dove to catch it before it could break. Starfire ran to Raven and grabbed her arms.

"Come back, Raven!" she cried, shaking her. "Leave your trance state at once!"

"She went too deep!" shouted Cyborg. "There's only one thing that can break that kind of concentration!"

He grabbed Beast Boy by the scruff of the neck and threw him as hard as he could at Raven. Beast Boy screamed in surprise, changing into a squid just in time to smack straight into Raven. There was a squelching noise and his tentacles wrapped around her to catch himself.

Raven was frozen for a moment, then her eyes snapped back into focus, and she glared flaming daggers at the squid attached to her chest.

"WHY. A. SQUID??" she gritted out.

"No bones to break," he said meekly, and scuttled away. Starfire leaned in.

"Are you all right?" she asked. Raven nodded, shaking her hands as if they tingled.

"I think so," she said. "Now I know why Slade wants it. There is something there that is soaked with power..."

"You said...it could see you.." Robin came to peer at her too. She took a deep breath to steady herself.

"I've looked into other dimensions and spirit realms before," she told them. " I've seen demons, and darkness, and freaky dimensional beings, but I have NEVER had anything look back into me like that before. It was AMAZING, but I couldn't get away from it. It was like being caught in highbeams. I couldn't get free."

"Well, you have me to thank for that," Beast Boy said proudly.

"Right," Raven drawled. "Thanks for the slime and the sucker marks."

"Yeah, she's all right," Cyborg said grinning. He held up the globe to squint at the entwined wires. Robin came to inspect the other side of it.

"Are you sure you are ok?" Starfire asked, still looking concerned. Raven nodded, and pulled up her hood.

"The nearest place where the lines intersect is in Nevada," Robin said. "Do you think that's the one?"

"Well sure," Cyborg said, dropping the globe into Robin's hands. "If there's a parallel dimension of luck and power where else would the portal be but Las Vegas?"

"Sounds like a road trip!" said Beast Boy.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

It didn't take the T-jet long to reach Las Vegas. Starfire and Beast Boy were oohing and aahing over the view of the city when Raven turned to face them all.

"All right now," she said. "A quick review: What are our objectives in this mission?"

"To find Slade and stop him!" Robin declared at once.

"To recover the goods from BAX-TECH," Cyborg added.

"And!" cried Starfire. "To return wayward Harry Lee to his sanity and friends."

"Riiiiight," Raven inched back from her perkiness. The three began to talk with each other and Raven's attention returned to the Vegas skyline. Beast Boy appeared at her elbow.

"How about you?" he asked her. She raised an eyebrow at him. "You've been kinda strange about this mission."

"Meaning what?" she asked coldly.

"Meaning that you've been awfully gung-ho about this one," he shrugged. "Which isn't like you. What's YOUR objective here?" She just glared at him silently. His expression became pleading. "Come on! Tell me!"

"...If Slade really has found a way into that dimension..." her voice trailed off.

"Yeah?"

"Then I want a better look." She turned to stare him in the eye, daring him to joke about it, but he shrugged again.

"Fair enough," he said. "Just don't go all possessed on us like Harry did, ok?"

"I'll do my best," she said. Then there was a yelp of outrage and Robin shoved his way to the window.

"I don't believe it!" he raged, slamming a fist on the side of the jet. Outside, there was a tall building hung with neon. It's name was the SnakeEyes Casino, according to the sign on the roof. Someone had broken most of the sign though, so that only the S and a few surrounding lights were lit. By themselves, they formed the jagged letter S that was Slade's insignia.

"That can't be coincidence," Cyborg said, grimly.

"Slade knows we're coming," Robin growled.

Which means he'll have traps ready!" moaned Beast Boy. "I don't want to be hurty-glowy again!"

"Calm down," Robin got hold of himself. "We'll just have to do what he won't expect..."


	3. chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

It was a busy night in the SnakeEyes Casino. They had only been open a week, but so far, business was booming. The only trouble had been the broken sign on the roof. Lots of people were turning out to enjoy the food and games. The rooms were full of warm, often garishly dressed bodies. Even in all the noise and crush, some intuition had most of the room looking up when the door opened.

Raven stood in the doorway. She had dressed up for the occasion, and it would have been hard to tell that she was still a teenager in the dress she was wearing. It was deep green and very slinky. Around her shoulders was a matching green fur stole. Beast Boy had been forced to get creative with this shapechange. He was longer and much fluffier than any living mink to create the illusion of a fur. He nestled in close to her neck so no one would see him move. Black jewels hung from Raven's ears and around one wrist.

She strolled into the room, hoping she didn't look as uneasy as she felt. She was used to showing leg, but was feeling naked without her cloak. She was willing to put up with a lot for another chance to see the luck dimension, but she still thought angrily back to the planning stages of this little adventure. As crazed as Robin had been to begin the hunt for Slade, he had still laid down a plan. They had found a few of Slade's usual robots and made short work of them.

"We'll split into teams," Robin had decided. "And if Slade is expecting us, we'll make it harder and go in disguise." Starfire had been thrilled with the notion.

"Oh yes!" she said, clasping her hands. "Each team can have its own objective to reach!"

"Not a bad idea," Cyborg had said. "But it's going to take more than a suit and tie to keep anyone from recognizing me! If the casino is using BAX-TECH's technology, I can probably find it by getting into their main system. I'll take the uniform and armor off one of those Slade-bots and sneak in that way."

"But..." Starfire hesitated. "You are so much larger than the Slade-bots!" Cyborg grinned at her and pretended to flex one of his bionic arms.

"Don't I know it!" he said. "But it may get me far enough in to find out something..

"Sounds good," Robin had said. "I'll go after Slade. I'll definitely need a disguise. Knowing Slade he'll be somewhere he can see all the action. "

"Oh, let me go too!" Starfire grabbed his arm. "I adore costuming opportunities and you shouldn't go alone!"

"I'll see if I can find the portal before Slade does," Raven had told them, anxious to get started. Beast Boy had jumped to attention.

"I'll go with you," he said, and she remembered giving him her best evil eye.

"I don't NEED help," she had told him. "Go with Cyborg."

"Hey, no offense to BB here," Cyborg had ruffled Beast Boy's hair. "But he doesn't exactly match the physique of a Slade-bot either." Beast Boy had looked undecided on whether to be offended anyway, but had shaken it off to look back at Raven.

"And what if you have to meditate again?" he said, elbowing Cyborg's mechanical ribs. "If you're going to be in a trance, you'll need someone to watch your back!" Robin stepped in again.

"He's right. And Slade WILL be watching. You'll need a disguise too."

So now, there they were. Starfire had done Raven's hair up in a complicated alien chignon and she had squeezed into the dress and let Beast Boy hang on to her shoulders. She had picked the green dress out of several colors mainly just to match her partner's pelt, but Beast Boy had seemed almost flattered. There was another reason for it too. Deep in her mind, her courageous self had worn green. She might need that courage later.

'What's the first thing we need to do?" Beast Boy whispered in her ear. She picked her way through the crowd.

"We find the most active spot," she muttered back, trying not to move her lips much. "The one giving off the most energy. The ley lines should cross there." A few men turned to stare at her and she hurried away, grumbling about idiots.

"Well, you do look nice," Beast Boy told her and her teeth ground together.

"Save it for Terra," she snapped, but was immediately sorry when he drooped. "You wanted to watch my back. Just do it." She nodded over to where a short man in a big hat had his hand firmly attached to his escort's butt. "If any of these jerks try THAT, bite the crap out of them."

"Gotcha," he said, a teensy grin returning to his face. "Your 'back' is safe with me."

Meanwhile, Starfire had dressed up too. She was in a long white dress with full length gloves and some pearls. Her hair was piled up in an impressive coif. Robin had wet his hair back and was dressed as a gambler in black. He had replaced his mask with a pair of dark sunglasses. As they walked up to the door, he took her arm and she leaned on him happily. She was enjoying this so far.

"Remember," he said softly, nodding to the doorman as they went in. "No flying or anything like that. We have to act as normal as everyone else here. No powers or heroics until it's necessary."

"Agreed!" she scanned the crowd, watching the other women for clues on how to behave. Escorts and arm candy were the majority, it seemed. She glomped Robin tightly. "Is this right?"

"Less super strength!" he wheezed, and she loosened her grip. "That's better. We'll scope the place out and see if we can find where Slade has hidden himself." She nodded and they sauntered out onto the floor.


	4. chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Raven had found a chair near one of the big stakes tables. A man had bought her a drink and her stare had driven him away. The glass sat untouched near her elbow. As she pretended to watch the game, she forced all the noise and motion in the room from her mind. It was difficult, but after awhile, she was able to sink into concentration. Beast Boy was on alert. He scanned the crowd with beady eyes, looking for anyone who might try to approach Raven. A few of the women caught his eye, but he forced his attention back to the task.

Raven's breathing was deep and slow through the fur on his back. It would have been ticklish if he hadn't been so preoccupied. She shivered once and he wrapped his tail more protectively around her bare shoulders. She didn't move or speak again for another hour.

The room had wavered in her vision as the trance had taken over. It had faded away and she had slowly become aware of two intersecting lines of energy through the room. The spot where they met radiated a steady glow of power. All the human beings in the crowded room had faded to specs of light. Tendrils of energy flowed between the specs and the intersection. She wasn't able to tell which pulled energy from the other. She tried to focus harder, to see a way in.

A prickle went up her spine as she felt eyes again. This wasn't the awed, violating 'watched' feeling from before. She turned to find the source of the stare and found a creature in the room. It was so golden, it was almost white. It had a human face set into a leonine head and a long, undulating mane. It stood balanced on four pairs of long, clawed legs and huge, butterfly-like wings ran down it's back. It was bizarre, but very beautiful.

It looked at her sadly then turned and walked to the glowing intersection point. The shining wings opened and the creature leaped at the spot, tearing at it with all eight legs. It clawed at the spot as if trying to tear it open. Its human face was contorted with anguish and longing. Raven suddenly sat up suddenly, jostling Beast Boy. He turned to follow her gaze, but saw nothing,

"Raven?" he whispered. "What is it...?"

"Is...that the way?" she replied, not seeing or hearing him. "The way in?"

"Raven? Are you ok?" Beast Boy waved a paw in front of her face. Her eyes began to glow and two black orbs of magic appeared around her hands. "Whoa!" he yelped. "Raven? What are you doing??"

"I'll help you!" she cried suddenly as people turned to stare. Beast Boy sweatdropped. "We'll both go!"

"What??" screeched Beast Boy. Raven unleashed her power onto the room. The crowd screamed and was thrown wildly around like confetti. A guard ran at Raven and Beast Boy turned into a cobra. He struck at the man, driving him back until he was caught in the spinning power and sent reeling with the others. Raven screamed something very much like a battle cry. She flooded the place with her power, using more than he had seen her use against Trigon.

Chaos broke loose. The whole room seemed to suck into a whirlpool. As the physical world's layer was destroyed, the glowing portal became visible for him to see. Even the lion/butterfly beast faded into view. It was still attacking the intersection and that's where Raven had focused her power. He changed to a monkey and clung to her for dear life.


	5. chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Elsewhere, Robin had been pretending to play the tables while a security guard was hitting on Starfire. To all appearances, he had forgotten her, but he was staying in earshot, and his attention never left her.

"The last time I saw a tan like that it was in the Caribbean!" the guard was saying. "What brings an island girl to the SnakeEyes Casino?" Starfire had been paying careful attention to the arm candies in the room and responded in a perfect imitation. She giggled in a silly way and leaned in closer to the man, her hip brushing his leg and her eyelashes fluttering.

"Why, an airplane of course," she purred. "And that great big sign on the roof. I know it is broken, but it reminded me of a family crest I once saw when I was in Europe. What happened up there?" Robin gave her a mental thumbs up. He did wish she wouldn't stand _quite_ so close to the stranger though.

"Oh, a higher up landed his helicopter up there and one of the blades caught the light casing," the guard stared into her eyes. "We're still trying to get it replaced."

"Oh my!" she glanced at Robin to be sure she was doing all right. He tilted his chin in a slight nod and she went on. "How many floors does the actual casino go up? Could we _go_ to the roof? The view of the city must be wondrous!" The guard hesitated, then shrugged.

"Sure, doll," he said, pulling a keychain from his pocket. "I can give you the secret tour."

"Oooh!" Starfire looked thrilled. She took his arm and they started off. She gave her hair a toss to look over her shoulder again. Robin was no longer at his spot by the table, but she saw him flit through the crowd, staying close.

"There sure are a lot of cameras," she said, nervousness making her want to keep talking. "It must be difficult to guard the security in such a place."

"Not at our central station," he said. "C'mon." He unlocked a 'Staff Only' door and lead the way. Starfire allowed the door to shut on the hem of her dress and while the man apologized and opened it, she grabbed the door frame as if to keep her balance. She slapped a strip of some kind of tape Cyborg had made over the lock and then let the door shut. With the tape there, the lock would be unable to catch. They walked on and when Starfire heard the door softly open again, she begin to talk loudly to cover up the sound.

"You have not yet told me your name," she cooed and the guard turned his cold eyes on her again.

"Jr." he said. He looked at her strangely, then smiled as if he wasn't sure how. She still hadn't seen him blink, and it was beginning to give her the creeps. His voice was friendly enough, though. "What's yours, doll?"

"Star-" she began, then caught herself. "It's what some people call me..." One person in particular, she thought, wishing Robin was back in sight. Knowing he was following did give her some comfort. She managed a smile for Jr., who led her down a new corridor. They went through another door, up an escalator, and into a small room. The walls were lined with switchboxes and wires and tiny blinking lights. One large tv screen was on one wall.

"This," said Jr. "is the only room in the building that has no surveillance at all." Starfire blinked at the small room.

"Oh?" she said, puzzled. "Why not?" He grabbed her wrists quickly and pushed her back to a wall, pinning her arms over her head. She gasped and nearly fought back, but saw the door open a crack and bit her lip.

"So no one will ever know what happened to you," Jr. said, leaning so close that their noses almost touched. In the next instant, a pair of boots crunched into his head and sent the man flying. Robin landed between him and Starfire.

"You should be more worried about what happens to YOU!" Robin growled. The fallen man laughed, and the whole timber of his voice changed in mid-chuckle to one they both recognized.

"I'm safer than you are," it said in Slade's voice. Jr. rose to his feet and turned to face them. His chest opened and a screen appeared in it.

"Jr. is a robot!" squealed Starfire. "No wonder he didn't blink..." Slade's face and upper body appeared on the screen. Under one arm, he carried an ancient-looking book. "You've played your parts well, but the starring role isn't for either of you. I knew only a rumor of me would bring you to the desert, and if you didn't come, neither would your other lady friend. Your team is far too dependent on you, Robin."

"Do you mean Raven?" asked Starfire, horrified. Robin's hands clenched.

"She's going to help me keep my part of a certain bargain," Slade's one visible eye narrowed, as if he was smiling under his mask. There was an explosion and the whole building rocked. Raven's black power went crawling up the walls.

"What have you done to her??" Robin demanded.

"Given her a glimpse of another world. Young Harry Lee saw it, and he hasn't been the same since. I appreciate power, Robin, but this one comes at much too high a price." The screen's reception skipped as Raven's blackness began to creep over the robot. The picture began to skip, but Slade's voice remained steady. "Perhaps when I have time to study this further, I'll have another use for your team...And for you." The screen went black as the wave of darkness swept over the robot. Starfire seized Robin around his waist and took off, blasting the door open. The hallways were coated with Raven's magic.

"Something has happened to Raven!" Starfire wailed, careening through the hallways, dodging the undulating black walls. She moved at speeds that tore the elaborate coif from her hair and sequins from her gown. In spite of his fury, Robin tried not to cringe.

"That monster set all this up!" he raged. "He's probably safe and sound miles away from here while we do his dirty work!" The walls bulged and shot into weird shapes, closing around them. Starfire squeaked and sent them sailing out through the first opening in her way. They zipped out a window into the warm night air. Police and ambulance sirens were suddenly deafening. The whole casino was wreathed in black flames. As they watched, it twisted as if trying to pull free from its own foundations.

"What shall we do?" moaned Starfire, staring wide-eyed. Her arms tightened around Robin, who felt the air being crushed out of him.

"We have to help them," he said as best as he was able. He pointed toward the main door and she dove for it at ramming speed. A blast of golden, shifting light sent them reeling back into the street.


	6. chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Raven's power had torn a hole into the dimension. Light poured out of it, too bright to look at straight. The winged lion/butterfly creature ran to the hole. As the light soaked into it, it changed shape, becoming a ragged and insane-looking young man. Cenbach wouldn't have recognized Harry Lee this way, no matter how close they had been. His clothes were tattered and his broken glasses hung from one ear. There were bleeding bald patches on his scalp and half-healed scratches on his face and neck, as if he'd been trying to claw some comfort out of his own hide. He threw himself into the portal with a wild cry of joy.

Beast Boy saw it rip the poor man apart into a glowing maelstrom of brightly-colored chaos. He had taken the form of a squid again. Four of his legs were wrapped around columns and supports and the rest clung to Raven as she dragged him towards the hole with relentless strength. Holding her back was stretching his limbs out painfully and he knew it had to be hurting her too, but didn't dare let go.

The force of the portal, plus Raven's runaway magic was tearing the room apart. Things melted and twisted and smacked from one wall to another. Not even the Poltergeist movies had been this bad! Then something leaped from the portal into the room. It was a capricorn, all goat and fish, springing gracefully from the light. Once outside its own dimension though, its grace vanished. It flopped and gasped and died in twisting agonies on the roulette table. Then came a spray of what looked like birds made of glass, bursting out to shatter and die on the tiled floor. Raven still struggled, desperate to reach the portal.

"You can't go!" Beast Boy shouted over the howl of the magical storm. "They can't live in this world and you won't survive in that one!" She didn't answer. That same look of tormented need that the lion/butterfly had worn was now twisting her face. Such passionate intensity was so unlike her that Beast Boy wrapped a tentacle around her head to block it.

"I won't let you go!" he screamed. "You belong here with us!" The few dark shreds that were all that was left of Harry Lee spun out of sight and were lost. The portal slowly began to shrink, closing up on itself. Raven fought even harder to reach it before it was gone. She dragged Beast Boy forward, ignoring his pleas. Then, another arm wrapped around her waist. Beast Boy blinked in alarm at the Slade-bot that had suddenly appeared. It was bigger than the bots he remembered. One of its eyes glowed red and the other gave him a wink.

"Cyborg!" he gasped. "Help me!"

"It's why I came!" the big man said. He put his other arm around Raven and dug his heels into the floor, bracing against her. She struggled, lashing out at him. Beast Boy heard sounds of metallic strain from inside Cyborg's limbs, but he held fast. Beast Boy's own arms were throbbing, but he told himself they only had to hold her until the portal closed completely. It was growing smaller as they watched. The roar of the contained energy and howling wind began to fade enough that they could hear Raven screaming over the din.

"NONONONO!!" she screeched, thrashing in their arms, frantic to reach it. As it finally sealed itself shut, her last wail trailed off into a wordless cry of despair. She slumped to the ground unconscious, Beast Boy and Cyborg collapsing with her. Her last outburst of power shattered every window in the building, spraying the streets with broken glass.

Robin and Starfire were trying to find a way back into the casino when Cyborg appeared. He was still wearing a Slade-bot uniform, but had taken off the mask. He cradled Raven in the crook of one arm, holding her against his shoulder. His other hand was holding Beast Boy up. Robin ran to help and took Beast Boy's arm over his own shoulder to support him. Beast Boy winced as the arm was moved, feeling the strain of holding on to Raven for so long.

"I'm beat," the shapeshifter sighed. "I'm not going to be able to MOVE tomorrow..."

"But what about Raven??" cried Starfire, hovering near her pale friend.

"She may need some time..." Beast Boy said sadly.

"What happened in there?" Robin asked.

"My part went as expected," Cyborg told them. "I squeezed into a Slade-bot suit and got into the main system room. The BAX-TECH stuff was just sitting there. I didn't see the book and there was nothing else in the room so I took it back to the T-jet and came to help you guys. Got there just in time to keep these two from being sucked into a not-so black hole!"

"Will she be ok?" Robin peered closer at Raven's crumpled form.

"Will she forgive us, you mean," Beast Boy said. They all looked at him. His pointed ears drooped unhappily. "Whatever she saw in that place, she wanted more than I've ever seen her want anything. She didn't care if she hurt us or that building as long as she got to it."

"That's why Slade kept his distance," Robin said. "If he read the book and knew what was waiting... He wouldn't want anything to have that much control over him."

"And the price he spoke of?" Starfire clasped her hands together. "What if it is Raven he meant to pay it?!"

"Harry Lee went into that dimension of his own free will," said Beast Boy. "And it started to close."

"Maybe it got what it wanted," Robin said hopefully. "Maybe it will let her go."

"I just hope she can let IT go," Beast Boy sighed. All eyes turned to the sorceress again. She lay still, with anguish pulling at her face, even unconscious.


	7. chapter 7

A WEEK LATER:

Even after she woke up, Raven wasn't right for awhile. The others weren't even sure she'd come completely out of her trance state. She didn't respond to them for days, so they left her in her room, hoping the quiet would help her come back to herself. She sat on the edge of her bed, looking at her bare feet. Her usual uniform and cloak lay on the bed next to her where Starfire had left them. She still wore the green dress.

As awareness returned to her, memories crept in after. There were still some sore sucker marks on her arms and body. She remembered Beast Boy clinging to her as a squid, begging her to stop. How long ago had that been? It was so quiet in the Tower she could hear the TV on in another room. Most of the time it was news footage of the devastation in Nevada. _I did most of that_, she thought, and tried to feel bad about it, but couldn't.

The memory of that other place was still painful. A sense of bone-numbing loss hung over her. She had seen the other place, had opened the door, but had been unable to reach it. Anyone with less experience in repression would've been driven crazy. _There's a new me running around in my mind now_, she thought. _And this one's cloak is a swirl of fairy colors. The colors of desire._ A pang of grief caused a chair across the room to twist into a pretzel knot. She had been so close! If only she had been able to get free of Beast Boy and Cyborg!

_What if I had_? a more rational mental voice suddenly took over in her thoughts. _What if it had been me instead of Harry? What would I have done if I had gotten through the portal_? She wondered at that. There was no reason she could think of to want to go. Why had the need to enter the spinning lights been so consuming? Another memory of Beast Boy's voice, high with fear, came back to her. He had said she would die inside there, as the creatures had died when they escaped it. Much clearer was the memory of Harry Lee in his madness leaping into the maelstrom.

_That could have been me_, she realized. A stab of envy sent a crack through the mirror on her wall, and then one of embarrassment made the silver melt off the glass. It _COULD_ have been her, wild-eyed and frothing at the mouth, missing great handfuls of hair, hysterical and shrieking with delight while an unknown force tore her to pieces. What siren song could have made her lose control so easily? What exactly _was_ it that had compelled everyone who saw it to such insane measures??

Something soft touched her arm and before she could jump, an abnormally long, and fluffy green mink ran up her shoulder and twined around her neck. She sat tense for a moment, then relaxed, even letting her chin rest on his silky-furred back. The others must've had heard the noise from the chair and the mirror and come to check on her. Even so, it was a long moment before Beast Boy spoke.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked, his voice sounding little and scared.

"No," she said, after a moment of searching for that particular emotion. The urge to rub her face into his pelt flared up and was quickly quelled. "I lost control. That's my fault, not yours." His relief that she was speaking coherently again was not as strong as his relief that she didn't hate him for holding her back.

"We returned the techno stuff to BAX-TECH," he told her. "It hadn't even been used. Robin says Slade staged the break-in just to lure us to Las Vegas. He thinks that Slade somehow got hold of Harry Lee and learned about the book. He wanted the power there, but wasn't willing to give himself up to it the way Harry had. He was afraid to open it himself, so he broke into BAX-TECH and gave us enough clues to get to the right spot."

"He knew I'd use my powers to tap into the ley lines," Raven said, thinking out loud. "He knew I'd see it and want it." Somewhere inside her, red-cloaked rage screamed. Her hands clenched and a book on her nightstand flew open, the pages rustling.

"Easy!" gasped Beast Boy. "We were had. That's all. Slade wanted the book and he had to get Harry back to the Whirling Whirlpool of Doom to get it. Robin thinks Slade will try to make himself strong enough to take it on for himself before he tries to open it again."

"He'll never be that strong," Raven said flatly. "I sure wasn't."

"You were with me and Cy to help you!" He chirped. She gave him a level look and he flashed a sharp-toothed, minky grin at her. "Slade was all alone, so he can only rely on himself, so you're right about him never being strong enough by himself. But you've got us and we wouldn't let anything happen to you. We were two members short, but we were still a team and we still made it."

"That sounds like one of Robin's speeches," she raised a haughty eyebrow at him and he grinned again.

"Parts of it are! Our fearless leader is occasionally right about these things."

"Henh," she said. His ears perked up, perhaps detecting a bare trace of amusement in the sound. As they had spoken, she had shaken off more of her daze and looked enough like herself for him to risk another question.

"So, whatcha going to do tonight?"

"Throw you out, so I can change," she said, getting carefully to her feet.

"Just your clothes, I hope," he teased. "We've missed the old you."

"Well, you can wait a few more minutes," she said, opening the door. She picked him up off her shoulders and set him on the floor in the hall.

"All right! So you'll come down for dinner?" His enthusiasm made her wince, but she paused anyway.

"Who's cooking?" she asked warily, visions of Starfire's fungus-rich cooking dancing in her head.

"It's Robin's turn," he said, sitting up like a prairie dog. "So that means takeout." She hesitated another moment.

"I'll be there," she said and shut the door before she had to see the goofy look of happiness light up his little mink face. Even so, the brief sputter of happy in her own chest made her uniform turn itself inside out on her bed. She took a deep breath to quiet her emotions and then went to dress. She caught herself hurrying. For what, she asked herself. Another container of Chinese noodles? Or to get back to normalcy? She was grudgingly looking forward to being fussed over by the rest of the team at dinner.

She fastened her linked belt and threw her cape around her shoulder. She made sure her Titan's brooch was on extra tight and stepped into her boots. She stepped into the hallway, but as she leaned in to turn off her light she found herself wondering how Slade was handling the book. Before that thought could go any farther, she flipped the switch, and slammed the door shut.


	8. The End

In his own dark room, the masked man stared into a fire. He was angry, but the mask hid all signs of that except for his harsh breathing. He hated admitting any kind of weakness and he hated having to waste something so powerful, but the truth was that he hadn't been able to sleep or eat since he laid hands on the book. He hadn't even been able to leave it out of his hands for very long, and never out of his sight.

He remembered finding Harry Lee in the desert, he had watched the 'Bookworm' take him over and the metamorphosis that followed. As soon as he had realized the hold the book had on him, Slade had burned the thing. Even then though, he had watched the flames until they died, and the ashes until the wind pulled them away.


End file.
